CLEPA on the vote on opinions on CO2 standards: Tough balancing act

Date

Links

Sections

Transport

The committee for Transport and Tourism in the European Parliament has voted yesterday to confirm the Commission’s proposed reduction targets for cars and vans, to call for more flexible rules on eco-innovations and to request the Commission to introduce Life-Cycle Analysis and Well-to-wheel data in emissions regulation. The committee for Industry, Research and Energy did not adopt a position after a vote which overall had produced contradictory results.

CLEPA Secretary General Sigrid de Vries comments:

“Today’s vote reflects the tough balancing act policy makers are tasked with: Defining ambitious but realistic CO2-reduction targets while balancing environmental, consumer and economic interests at the same time. The European Commission has put a highly demanding proposal on the table, which will contribute to the Paris climate goals and to a transformation of the industry. Elaborating on this proposal is a complex task and today’s votes show that policy makers intend to take a detailed and critical look at the Commission’s proposal and the suggestions of stakeholders.

The proposed ambition level will drive the rapid transformation of the automotive landscape, both on the roads with a significant amount of electric and hybrid vehicles, as well as in the automotive industry where alternative propulsion technologies will become a major part of daily manufacturing. Together with digitalisation, decarbonisation constitutes the main transformational force in the sector.

The automotive suppliers support realistically ambitious reduction targets and stress the importance of a technology neutral approach to reduce emissions in the most efficient as well as least disruptive way. In that respect, CLEPA welcomes the support for eco-innovations reflected in the position of the committee for Transport and Tourism as well as for the inclusion of synthetic fuels in the scope of the legislation and a stronger recognition for hybrid technology in the so called ‘benchmark’.

Automotive suppliers are fully part of the transformation process manufacturing everything from electric drivetrain, to advanced combustion engine solutions to hydrogen and other alternative fuels-based technologies. Long-standing innovation and solution providers, they industrialise those technologies that help make transport safe, smart and sustainable. “

The opinion of the committee for Transport and Tourism will be taken into consideration by the leading committee for Environment, Public Health and Food Safety in the preparation of its vote in September and subsequently the vote in the Plenary of the European Parliament (EP), which is scheduled for October. Once EP and Council have decided on their respective positions, interinstitutional negotiations to adopt the regulation will start.

Note to editors:

CLEPA represents over 3.000 companies supplying state-of-the-art components and innovative technology for safe, smart and sustainable mobility, investing over 20 billion euros yearly in research and development. Automotive suppliers in Europe employ overall nearly five million people across the continent.